Mount Doug History
As the Alumni group started looking at the history of Mount Doug, we quickly realized that recording our accomplishments and boasting about them hasn’t been the way Mount Doug students and staff have celebrated achievements. We are hoping as the alumni come together we can create a rich summary of stories and recollections that we can incorporate into this site.
The Beginning
Mount Douglas officially opened on November 18, 1931 at the now Cedar Hill Middle School site on Cedar Hill Road. In 1970 the school relocated to the present location on Gordon Head Road the former site of Gordon Head Junior High School. Mount Douglas High/Secondary School quickly became and remains to this day simply Mount Doug/Mt.Doug
When the school first opened in 1931 it was valued at $25,519
Principals
- 1931-1939 – Bert Bailey
- 1939-1969 – Eric Forster
- 1969-1979 – Jack Lowther
- 1976-1977 – Ken Brown (Acting)
- 1979-1986 – Wally Russell
- 1986-1991 – Don Neuman
- 1991-1998 – Gloria Metzger
- 1998-2004 – Maeva Sundher
- 2004-2006 – Keith McCallion
- 2006-2010 – John Fawcett
- 2010-2011 – Rob House (Acting)
- 2011-2018 – Shawn Boulding
- 2018-2019 – Tammy Sherstobitoff
- 2019-Present – Donna Thompson
The Summit
The Summit was published for a reunion event on May 3, 1969. The reunion included classes from 1931 to 1959 and coincided with the departure of Eric Forster who had been principal for 30 years. Thanks to Gerald & Betty Emery (class of 1950) for contributing this great piece of Mount Doug History.
Academically
Academically, Mount Doug is one of the top secondary schools in Canada. Locally, the school earns more scholarships than any other school both public and private. Mount Doug students have achieved excellence in athletics, the arts, technology, and leadership winning awards and competitions locally, provincially, nationally and internationally. Few schools can boast the kind of achievement attained by the students of Mount Doug. Presently the students of Mt. Doug earn 40% of all the scholarships earned in this area with 20% of the population.
High School Memories
This article contains some of our fond memories of going to school in the Gordon Head area of Victoria during the years 1968 to 1973. It’s mostly about our high school, Mt. Douglas, but it also has memories from the two junior high schools we attended, Gordon Head and Cedar Hill, and the change over that affected these schools in 1970…
Remember When... Rivalries!
In January 2009 I attended my first Mt. Doug Alumni director meeting. I have thought for years that Mt. Doug should tap into their wonderful pool of talented, successful alumni to help out the current Mt. Doug students, so I was really excited to hear that this ball has finally started rolling. Since I was back at Mt. Doug, obviously my mind was going back to those days of old, and for me, that meant basketball. And as if fate played a role, that night, after the meeting, we wandered into the gym and the Mt. Doug guys were playing Oak Bay in basketball. That brought back a flood of memories – Oak Bay was always our biggest rival and we were always up for a game against Oak Bay – but then I came back to the moment and wondered where all the people were! There was no line-up to get into the gym, there was no band, there were lots of parking spots, there was no Mt. Doug guy chasing down the “Bay Man” and not even all of the bleachers were pulled out – where was everyone?!!?
Back in my day, and in my sister’s and both brothers’ time before me – when Mt. Doug played Oak Bay in basketball – there was no coming in late, there was no deciding to show up at the last minute – the place was packed. All the bleachers were full, the band was rocking and people were standing all around the gym, and not just at Mt. Doug, it was the same when we played at Oak Bay. Fortunately, I have nothing but great memories about playing Oak Bay during my senior year at Mt. Doug – primarily because although almost all of the games were very close, we didn’t lose to them once that year. We beat them in league play, we beat them in the City playoffs and we even met in the Vancouver Island Finals in Port Alberni – and even that place was rocking. But for some reason, probably because of an emotional come-from-behind semifinal victory over the host team, we came out flat in the first half of the final and sucked big time. Thankfully, Oak Bay sucked as well that night. And at half time, after Mr. Humber let us know in no uncertain terms just how much we sucked that first half, we came out and although we didn’t have a great second half – it was better than Oak Bay’s – so we defeated our rival and we won the Vancouver Island High School Boys Basketball Championship in 1982.
But more than winning, it was the great fan support – parents, teachers and a ton of other students, and the wonderful rivalry that I will never forget.
Written by Chris Mosher – Grad 1982. Chris is still living in Victoria. He is a Chartered Accountant and conducts forestry audits for the province of BC. He has a wonderful partner, Dee, and two boys aged 10 and 7. They even live in the house Nelly Furtado grew up in on Haultain Street.
Do you have some great memories? Write them down and send them to us.